So'o Masks and Hemba Funerary Festival Author(S): Thomas D. Blakely and Pamela A. R. Blakely Source: African Arts, Vol. 21, No

So'o Masks and Hemba Funerary Festival Author(s): Thomas D. Blakely and Pamela A. R. Blakely Source: African Arts, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Nov., 1987), pp. 30-86 Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3336497 Accessed: 29/09/2008 11:12

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http://www.jstor.org So'o Masks and Hemba Funerary Festival

THOMASD. BLAKELY* PAMELAA. R. BLAKELY

Rural Bahemba,1 who are primarily In recent years, leading scholars have called their system of visually com- agriculturalists living in eastern endeavored to enlarge our understand- municative events. This ethnographic Zaire just south of the great equatorial ing of African art by doing and encourag- approach puts a primary emphasis on rain forest and about 150 kilometers west ing field research in Africa concerning various forms of indigenous knowledge, of Lake Tanganyika, have in recent years the production, uses, and ethnoaesthe- and involves a rigorous effort not only to come to the attention of the African art tics of African art in its social and cultural find answers to questions from an out- world through their wood statuary, re- setting. Increasingly we see in print sider's perspective, but also to find the ferred to by the Belgian art historian kinds of contextualizing material on Af- appropriate questions to ask, and ap- Fran:ois Neyt as grande statuaire for its rican art that are comparable (and some- propriate ways to look and perceive and unusual size and relatively classical times even superior) to analyses of art interpret, within that particular African style. In the publications on Hemba from areas of the world that have much culture. There is a substantial literature sculpture to date, the Hemba so'o longer literate traditions to rely upon for in anthropology and related fields con- ("chimpanzee-human") mask has re- general background, for exploring spe- cerning methodologies for conducting ceived only cursory mention (Neyt & de cific historical and contemporaneous re- this general type of inquiry that are here Strycker 1975; Neyt 1977; see also ferents, and for suggesting sign do- extended and elaborated to deal I.M.N.Z. 1973a, 1973b; Cornet 1975). It mains3 in the surrounding culture that explicitly with visual sign processes, or sometimes is referred to as a masque are potentially related to the art in ques- "semiosis."4 singe, or "monkey mask." When the tion (e.g., Biebuyck 1973). An important question to ask when Kiswahili term sokomutu is also noted, Along with greater knowledge of Afri- considering the so'o mask is: What do the the translation gloss used (if any) is can peoples and their everyday and ritual Bahemba themselves make of it? What in "chimpanzee," without further com- lives has come a somewhat greater ex- these masks counts, for the people who ment on the connotations of this term for pertise in understanding the iconogra- produced and used them, as a sign or a Bahemba.2 The limited treatment has phy of African sculpture from more complex of signs, and how do Bahemba been misleading, moreover, in asserting cultural-insider points of view. More relate these signs to other signs of their that these masks are never danced (Neyt rarely, attempts have been made to expli- acquaintance, to situation-specific or 1977:498 following Cornet 1975:123). cate a sculpture's visual signs with spe- multisituational designata, and to the cific reference to postures, gestures, or habits of the beings, living and dead, who facial expressions found in face-to-face inhabit the world in and around their vil- interaction in the African society that lages? When Bahemba look at this object produced and utilized the particular (Fig. 1) they see what they call a horrible piece, as is done, for example, in Robert and terrifying "mouth": an enormous Farris Thompson and Joseph Cornet's and grotesque curvature, an inappropri- book The Four Moments of the Sun (1981), ately stretching, gaping opening on an which focuses on the Kongo ethnic otherwise fairly reasonable visage. If you groups in Lower Zaire and Angola. We as a Muhemba5 saw anything like this would like to take this approach a bit frightening combination of forms com- further here than has previously been ing out of the bush or on a path, in your done, to our knowledge, at least for panic you would not pause, but would sub-Saharan African processes of sig- run full blast in the opposite direction. nification, by examining the Hemba so'o We witnessed this kind of panic among a mask, its ethnoaesthetic dimensions, number of Bahemba attending a funeral. and its performance in Hemba funerary A reliable female research assistant also festivals. tells of seeing a usually very calm and A central concern of our visual semio- dignified thirty-year-old pregnant tic research (supported by other linguis- woman running headlong down the tic, historical, folkloristic, and sociocul- path essentially stark naked, her cloth tural investigations), as exemplified by wrap streaming out behind her (an the discussion of Hemba masks to fol- extraordinary event in the very modest low, has been to discover and elucidate everyday adult Hemba world): it turns which visual phenomena count as visual out she had seen a so'o "chimpanzee- communication forms, messages, acts, human." This wild-eyed flight is the an- 1. SO'O "CHIMPANZEE-HUMAN"MASK. HEMBA, ZAIRE. unhurried WOOD, 19.3cm. INSTITUTDES MUSEES NATIONAUXDU events, and texts for members of the tithesis of the calm, Hemba ZAIRE, KINSHASA. COLLECTED BY C. E. HENAULT. community under study. One objective gaze and all the forthrightly polite in- HOLES AROUND THE EDGE INDICATEIT WAS PROBABLY is to work toward making clear which teractional subtleties that accompany it. WORN AS A DANCE MASK. INTERVIEWSWITH BAHEMBA, visual communication resources are USING PHOTOGRAPHS OF THIS AND OTHER SO'O MASKS, WERE ONE SOURCE OF THE ETHNOAESTHETIC utilized by these Central African people 2. SO'O "CHIMPANZEE-HUMAN," SHOWING THE INFORMATIONIN THIS STUDY in constructing what might be loosely WOODEN MASK (MWISI GWA SO'O), BARKCLOTHCAPE, AND HAIRAND BEARD OF COLOBUS MONKEYHAIR.

30 AM Steady and unabashed gazing is a coming routines. This is not to say that one to it. Here again, it is a silent sign used in mon eye-contact routine, and though its cannot at all find in Hemba interaction the interests of interpersonal discretion. occurrence varies with respect to concur- the quick flash of the eyebrow that Raised eyebrows held for a longer time rent activities, who does the gazing, and Iranaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt and Wulf are associated by Bahemba with "wild- who and what are gazed upon in what Schiefenhovel propose as a biological ness," "drunken anger," some kinds of settings, it does not have the implica- universal in human facial expression, "craziness," or with "having just seen an tions of discourtesy found in Northern- but it does seem suppressed or shor- apparition." Bahemba see this longer- European American culture, for exam- tened in many Hemba situations.7 held kind of raised eyebrows in so'o ple. Gazing is expected in many Hemba Bahemba verbally deny using any eye- masks (Figs. 1-4)9 and view the so'o, in situations; omitting this gaze or cutting it brow movement in greetings, and their part, as embodying and expressing these short can easily have negative connota- brows do appear to be kept more stable disturbed and unsettled emotional tions, whereas calm and unhurried gaz- than in some other cultures. Their faces states. ing is interpreted as friendly and courte- at these times seem to be much farther Especially, however, Bahemba focus ous attentiveness. (For an analysis of this along the continuum toward where the upon the grotesque mouth and contrast and other semiotic and proxemic6 as- Japanese are, for example. it with what they otherwise see as a regu- pects of visual communication in Hemba Interestingly enough, Bahemba re- lar, well-proportioned face. It is typically villages, see T. Blakely 1982, 1987.) serve a slightly slower raising of the eye- noted that the carver did a fine job in Under persistent questioning, brow for the kind of named gesture that rendering this transformation of human Bahemba maintain that the wide curved Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen have facial signs - the features, expression, form on the so'o mask quite clearly de- called an "emblem" (Ekman & Friesen and facial gestures - except that the notes for them just a "mouth," an "open 1969). In Hemba facial-visual communi- mouth is not at all human. The mouth is mouth," kwanwahululu - and definitely cation this emblem means yes and is clearly said to resemble that of the ape not a "smile," usea solo. For Bahemba, it is substituted freely in the place of a verbal that also bears the name so'o, the chim- a strange and horrible mouth, perverted yes, especially when the listener who panzee that lives in the bush (more par- from its usual aspect: a thing to be star- uses it does not want to interrupt the ticularly the forest). The African bush is tled by, amazed at, feared, and (in a soci- speaker, or in quiet or secret discussions called the great lusuhu, the untamed, ety where fearful flight is no disgrace) to where all are trying to keep sound to a wild part of the universe - the polar op- run from at first encounter. A grimacing minimum. This "yes" facial emblem re- posite of the cleared, swept, wide-open "open mouth," moreover, is not part of calls what Eibl-Eibesfeldt found in hanza (or 'unza) expanse outdoors in the standard calm and proper Hemba Samoa, but without the Samoan readi- Hemba villages that is the locus of com- greeting, nor is it part of the usual stead- ness to use the eyebrow in many other munal civilized life, visually and other- ily gazing and quietly friendly observa- situations.8 wise. 10 tion of an approaching visitor. Keeping Bahemba also use a relatively quick Bahemba greatly avoid the undomes- one's mouth closed and lips over the raising of the eyebrow (sometimes in ticated animal chimpanzee, or "so'o of teeth is the commonly followed Hemba combination with a rapid sideways the bush." It is said to be a fierce, highly rule and consistent pattern. One even glance or a fast tongue-thrust to the side) agonistic, and even predatory animal in hears adults instructing younger chil- to signal to a confederate that the time relation to human beings, and people dren on how to keep one's lips closed in has come to implement a previously dread going through (and totally cir- this manner. It is part of the seemingly agreed-upon plan, such as leaving a cumvent if possible) forest areas known impassive African "cool" that Thompson group to go and privately drink some to be frequented by these animals, just as has written about (1973). palm wine. This avoids the vocal-audial they would for known leopard areas, Another feature of this dignified and channel, which would be monitored by places where cobras have been sighted, "cool" facial presentation, among the all. Even if someone else sees the eye- and graveyards or sites thought to be Bahemba, is an attenuation of the raising brow raising, etiquette requires that he hangouts for sorcerers. of eyebrows during their greeting or gaz- not say anything to call others' attention Bahemba, it should also be em- phasized, do not keep animals as pets and do not have the emotional attach- ments to animals that go with the love of pets. They matter-of-factly note that nyama ni nyama ("an animal is meat"), an understandable sentiment where the food quest is problematic during part of the year. For the members of this culture, the so'o is in no sense friendly, cuddly, or cute - nor is any animal. And what may at first appear to us to be a smile or a smile-like grimace is something Bahemba do not consider to be positive, pleasant, or welcoming - in fact, quite the opposite. There is a corpus of lore about the so'o that apparently is variably believed, depending on one's age, gender, credulity, and abilities as a hunter: hunters have a very keen knowledge of the local fauna, just as healers have an expert acquaintance with plants. The so'o is said by some, for example, to covet human I women and also the opposed thumb on 3, 4. SO'O SOCIETYMEMBER'S MASK(?) (FRONT AND SIDE VIEWS).WOOD, 16.2cm. the human hand, and, if presented the MUSEE ROYALDE L'AFRIQUECENTRALE, TERVUREN. opportunity, will aggressively try to ap-

32 . . . ..- ....-' .A ". .

5. TWO SO'O MASQUERADERS,JOINED BY A WOMANSPECTATOR, PERFORM FOR A CIRCLEOF RESIDENTS AND FUNERALGUESTS GATHEREDIN THE OPEN SPACE (LAGALA)IN THE CENTEROF THE VILLAGE. propriate either one. Women and the wisdom here are in the human be- draped in a red-dyed barkcloth cape (a young, especially girls, are admonished havioral imperative, rather than in the forest-derived fabric not worn in village not to travel through dense forest with- accuracy of the overt statement as a lit- life in living memory, but not ruled out out males, and preferably adult male re- eral observation of animal behavior. for the distant past), and has natural- latives, as support. Regardless of the Awareness of this kind of verbal mis- colored barkcloth leggings (Fig. 5).14 The usefulness of this convoying procedure direction provides all the more reason in so'o also wears some iron, a thing of the in these days of increased farm expan- fieldwork concerning African art to village and of civilization, but very spe- sion, deforestation, and state-enforced closely observe and record what people cial bits of iron. They are small bells (buz- intervillage peace, there was probably do and the way they do it in naturally oc- wege), whose distinctive high-pitched serious survival value to it in the days curring situations, in addition to record- sound heralds the exciting presence of (not so long ago) of more-plentiful large ing what they say they do, the reasons liminal creatures such as these animal predators and frequent human they claim to do it, and the symbols and "chimpanzee-humans" and certain welfare, since men had and continue to ideology said to justify and explain it. "ghost-humans" - costumed members have the knowledge and responsibility We are beginning here to come to an of the Balubwilo semisecret society. for hunting, war, and the relevant appreciation of how Bahemba look at As the so'o jingles noisily and disrup- weaponry. these masks, how these carvings do or tively, marching or running into a vil- This technique of topical and do not contain elements of recognizable lage, it makes a strange sight indeed: un- psychological misdirection, by the way, "faces" in their visual world, and some of like humans and chimps, it has no arms. is standard in Hemba child training and what these facial and other sign com- It not only has no gift of language (even people management. The real reason for plexes denote in the Hemba communica- the "ghost-humans" and "pygmy- avoidance is not explained, and instead tional universe. This understanding can humans"15 have that), it has no ears to attention is directed to a more frighten- be enhanced by considering the other hear and utters no sound from its mouth, ing and obeyable substitute. Otherwise, visual texts or sign complexes that ap- only from its bells. And often, if one those being instructed might not have propriately accompany this mask; for the looks closely, the terrifying so'o does not the experience and practical knowledge chimpanzee-human masquerade figure really even see from its eyes but through to follow the rule as scrupulously as re- also possesses other markers of its mouth! People scatter in fright and quired. This technique works both for category-ambiguity, of liminality, or of consternation. truly life-threatening situations and for anomaly in the perceptual, social, and If a pregnant woman is gazed upon too more mundane everyday interaction. natural order.1 long by so'o, some say she risks harm to The forest convoying procedure is an Things of the forest and things of the her unborn baby. In any case, if a baby is example of the former, while an example village adorn the so'o. Black and White born with its eyes closed, the mother of the latter is the way that the masked Colobus monkey hair makes up a sort of must join the so'o semisecret society. The "so'oof the village" is held up to children "hair" and "beard" (Fig. 2).12 Several so'o is further linked with fecundity and as a frightening bogeyman who will come pelts from both domestic and wild ani- fertility: the failure of one's crops in a to get them if they do not stop crying or mals hang front and rear, particularly ac- time of general crop success may be in- do not do this and that. The truth and centuating its rump (Fig. 6). 13 The so'o is terpreted as a sign that one must be in-

33 itiated into the so'o society. The so'o itself, other village where the corpse will be quiem funeral festival that marks the end a creature of the bush and the village, buried, or the principal residence of a key of the formal mourning period. will never enter a cultivated field. In fact, relative some distance away. Relatives The ubuzhamalilo festival is considered Bahemba offer the advice that one can and friends who are less closely in- a crucial step in the process of reconcilia- escape the so'o by running into such a volved, as well as people otherwise re- tion with the living and the dead, help- field, though someone who repeatedly lated to the mourners though not as di- ing repair and ensure social and indi- dreams that a so'o is chasing him is well rectly to the deceased, come along to the vidual health while signaling the begin- counseled to join the so'o ciety.16 funeral a bit later, though just as soon as ning of the reestablishment of normal So'o masquerade figures may appear they practicably can. Some of these social life for the most severely bereaved. in Hemba funerary festivals. Such a fes- guests arrive in time to participate fully It is a time when ceremonial events can tival (ubuzha malilo) can occur weeks, in the complex of events leading up to occur, such as a formal musuusa ("mourn- months, or even years after the burial, the burial and immediately following it, ing dance") and the playing of the depending on the category of person such as the first women's musuusa, trapezoid talking drum (mulimba), whose who died, the complexity of his or her "mourning dance." Other guests come artfully coded messages can be heard for social relationship networks, the extent during the subsequent week of con- many kilometers. It is also an occasion of his or her semisecret society member- tinued intensive mourning and mutual when diverse issues of social relationships, the economic resources of those comforting as groups remain at the fun- ship, schism and alliance, and who must host the event, and the social eral site day and night. Other visitors leadership come to the surface and are commitments, work schedules, and come for the first time to the special negotiated - sometimes quietly or health of a number of key participants. gathering (uangazhabaandu hanza), held a tacitly, and sometimes explicitly, color- The festival is an important milestone in week or so after the death, that marks the fully, or even explosively. It is the most a lengthy series of funeral-related activi- finish of people "sleeping outside" at the important kind of large group gathering ties that together constitute a major funeral in solidarity with and support of in an area where traditionally there were Hemba cultural focus, providing the those closest to the deceased. A few who no wedding festivals and no regularly prime impetus for numerous social were away on journeys or otherwise un- occurring major holidays. Great gatherings and substantially affecting avoidably detained visit the funeral site numbers of people come from the sur- temporal sequencing in daily and ritual in the succeeding weeks and months. rounding area, including many who had life. During this long period, wailing and only a marginal connection, or none at At the sorrowful news of death, the other expressively sorrowful actions are all, to the earlier stages of the funeral. closest relatives and friends drop what continued, especially on the occasion of Various kinds of entertainment groups they are doing and, without so much as new arrivals to the funeral and in the are invited, gifts of palm wine are changing out of the clothes they happen early mornings and the evenings. A va- brought by almost everyone, and quan- to be wearing, immediately converge on riety of funeral-related events also takes tities of food are provided. Numerous one of what may be several sites of place at this time, and other events in the kinds of interaction take place, and many mourning: the village where the person village often are either postponed or are kinds of business are transacted. died, the deceased's natal village or integrated spatially and thematically into Near the end of the festival, or follow- the ongoing funeral. As the weeks go by, ing soon after, are jural oratory and for- the wailing, the spending time together mal legal discussion (mwanda) concern- in conversation and mutual support at ing who was responsible for the death, the funeral site, the ritual offerings, and for in the very human-centered Bantu the other funerary activities do diminish universe, all deaths ultimately are seen in intensity and frequency, though they to have human causality. Inheritance is- never disappear entirely. The pace then sues are also negotiated, sometimes picks up again as group decision-making protractedly, at the end of the festival or meetings, palavers to announce dates in the days following, or at a later date if and assign roles, the amassing of food there are great difficulties coming to a and drink, and other preparatory activi- consensus among the inheritors or ties progressively lead up to the large re- others closely involved. Usually after the

6. A SO'O POSTURES IN ITS DANCE PERFORMANCE PHASE. RIGHT: 7. A SO'O IN ITS "WILD"PHASE RUNS THROUGH A VILLAGEAS CHILDRENSCATTER AND KEEP THEIRDISTANCE.

34 8. A SO'O DANCES RIGHTIN FRONT OF THE DRUMMERS, LAMPOONING OTHER FUNERAL FESTIVAL DANCERS WHO SOMETIMESPERFORM CLOSE TO THE DRUMS.

festival, though sometimes partially or wholly before, the sequence of funerary activities also includes separate special ceremonies and gatherings of members of each of the semisecret societies to which the deceased belonged. At this time, the deceased's membership status and control of healing substances are of- ficially ended, while social renewal and continuity are also assured through the admission of new members and through the instruction of initiates (and continu- ing members) in the esoteric knowledge of the particular society. The appearance of the so'o in a funerary festival has two phases, one being what we might call the "wild" phase. All younger people run from it at this time, as do pregnant women, and it chases them enthusiastically (Fig. 7). You are safe running away in the cleared expanse outdoors, but you dare not run inside a house: it will follow you inside, catch you, lift its mask, and you will have to undergo the initiation into the so'o society - a fate those who run from the so'o seem desperately to want to avoid. Older people, especially senior men, interestingly enough, rarely run from the so'o, but they avert their gaze when it looks in their direction. One does not - invert- 4':4' ing the usual open-faced gazing habit - exchange gazes with a so'o in its "wild" phase. There are not many other times when Bahemba move quickly in the daytime 9. A SO'O, PELTSFLYING, FINISHES A RUNNING, SPINNING JUMP

35 tropical heat. They move quickly for war, everyday interaction, but sustained over liminal state of the deceased as he or she for extreme medical emergency, when a much longer time period. makes a transition to the afterworld and going to fetch a corpse or carrying it back In its dance performance, now accom- takes up residence in the spirit abode to its natal village, after encounters with panied by expert human drummers (Fig. (kukesi). More broadly, the so'o "chim- leopards or with ghosts, or when carry- 8), the so'o as clown or trickster still panzee human" appears to be an allegor- ing a dead leopard in a noisy group. mocks the normal semiotic order, but it ical figure of death. It is important to be Bahemba do also chase and run this way does so more benignly and less disturb- clear here that Bahemba have not con- as part of the grandparent-grandchild ingly, sometimes as a herky-jerky but cisely articulated the explication of this joking relationship called bwiyulu, itself a nimble dancer (Fig. 9), sometimes as a allegory but rather it is consonant with a turning inside out of the solemn and re- side-splittingly funny mimic of other whole constellation of interpretative and spectful parent-child relationship. This kinds of dancers present (Figs. 10,11,12), explanatory commentary they have pro- roughhouse play across generations is and sometimes as almost a bumbling vided. Like death, the so'o is a disturber outside certain legal constraints, too: if a fool.18 The so'o contributes to both the of the order of the system. Anomalous, child should fall and die while running musangu, "happiness," and the yuuya, category-confusing characteristics of the from a grandparent, there is no legal re- "heat" (or "energetic confusion"), of this so'o parallel Hemba conceptions of the af- course, just as there is none for death very African funerary festival. For terworld, where categories of things that during the raucous struggles that de- Bahemba, "energetic confusion" and are clearly distinct in the world of the liv- velop around corpse-carrying or "happiness" are both considered very ing become muddled and mixed. For leopard-carrying. 17 important in counterpoint to the more example, the phrase incorporated into a In its "wild," chasing phase at a funer- expectable funerary nzuba ("sorrowful women's mourning song, "magondega ary festival the so'o respects none of the sadness") and inyonga ("coldness") in meba" ("thorny plantains" or "thorny ordinary constraints of inhabited village helping the living work through their plantain plants"), is a metaphor for space, but sails with abandon through all feelings of malilo ("wailing grief"), as kukesi, "the spirit abode." In the Hemba markers of lineage segment, family well as in satisfying the desires of the world of the living, thorns are not as- compound, activity area, and even dead to be remembered, celebrated, and sociated with food plants or any other through house doorways. But during the appropriately sent off to their new plant with positive value. The image of semidomestication of the so'o in its dance abode.19 "thorny plantains" incorporates aspects performance phase, spatial order is The members of the audience infuse of both "domesticated" and "wild" again restored. People no longer run and additional energy into the performance plants in a way that living Bahemba have scatter. They form a semicircle or oval by joining in and dancing with the so'o, not seen on this earth, but suppose that (Fig. 5), as is usual for watching per- to the delight of the other onlookers. its awful anomaly must be akin to the formers and for many other activities in They may also enter the performance unknown and equally awful reality of Hemba society, and they use the ordi- arena to dance with costumed "magical death. The horror associated with the nary Hemba spectating gaze to delight in healers" of the Bambuli and Balubwilo mask's grotesquely open mouth on an the mimicry of the former horror that has semisecret societies when they perform otherwise normal face also resonates now turned into an amusing clown-like at funerary events and other celebra- with this interpretation. It is further in- figure. Here we have a semiotic shift in tions, or to express pleasure at other teresting in this regard that the jaws of basic emotional tenor, at the level of cul- musical and dance performances. Hemba corpses are always tied closed, as tural performance, from fright to joy and The appearance of the so'o in a funer- they are in many other societies, which laughter, paralleling similar directional- ary festival might further be seen as a in the Hemba case is said to keep the ity in individual shifts of emotion during metacommunicative commentary on the dead from talking and the chuuli, "soul- essence," from prematurely leaving the body. From this appreciation of the so'o as an allegorical figure of death, further light is shed on other actions and outcomes that are associated with it. If a so'o should enter a planted field the crops will die. If someone caught by a so'o refuses to be initiated he is supposed to become a mufu, "dead person." To flee from this anomalous creature is to flee in fear of death personified. In the performance phase the so'o lampoons and mocks the entertainment groups and their youth- ful, often sensual expressions of life by mimicking and exaggerating their movements. When audience members join in with theso'o they engage in a danse macabre, and through this dance gain some mastery over their fear of death. In this brief examination of Hemba art and funerary festival, we have considered the ethnoaesthetics of the so'o mask and masquerade. Relationships of the Hemba-identified signs in the so'o mask to facial expression and gesture in everyday Hemba interaction, and to other domains in the Hemba communi- cational universe, have been elucidated. 10. A SO'O MIMICSYOUNG PERFORMERSWEARING RAFFIA-STRAND SKIRTS AT A FUNERALFESTIVAL. We have indicated ways in which the so'o

36 11. YOUNG BAMUSOYEDANCERS AT A FESTIVALWHERE A SO'O MASQUERADEIS ALSO BEING PERFORMED.

"chimpanzee-human" is for the thing to someone (or groups of some- Bahemba a frightening, anomalous crea- ones), quite often in a particular situa- ture that has elements from, yet falls out- tion or range of situations: the pragmatic side, the orderly cultural categories of dimension is crucially important and in- "animal" and "human," "bush" and "vil- timately involved with "meaning." lage," "wild" and "domesticated." Fur- We have only begun to explore here thermore, we have sought to avert prob- the semiosis of some aspects of visual lems inherent in assuming cross-cultural communication and masks among the intelligibility of apparently simple and Bahemba. Nonetheless this case study straightforward terms and labels. For can serve as a cautionary tale for those example, for Bahemba the visual and who would rely on direct-viewing verbal significance of the animal "chim- methods of analysis and interpretation panzee of the bush" is distinctly different alone, or in combination with minimalist from what many people in other cultures identification of local terms or "sym- think about chimpanzees and what the bols." Certainly many museum visitors image and the term "chimpanzee" are left to these methods, since docu- evoke. We have also underscored the mentation for many African pieces in importance, for a more complete under- museum displays is nonexistent or ex- standing of African art, of examining the ceedingly scant. One's interpretation performance context. may be further aided, of course, if the Crucial facets of "the meaning" of the piece is displayed with numerous other so'o masquerade, it should be em- visual forms from the same region or phasized, are to be found not only in ethnic group, which has been done in Hemba identification of significant vis- some outstanding special exhibits and ual elements of mask and costume books. More usually, however, perma- codes20 and in Hemba verbal interpreta- nent exhibitions and books on African tions of what these designate, but also in visual art present a medley of pieces the situational performance of the so'o at from many cultures by way of broad Hemba funeral festivals. In semiotic comparison. What has been presented terms, there are not only important in- here is by no means exhaustive, but terrelations between the syntactic and serves to indicate the complex task we the semantic dimensions, between how must undertake if we would begin sys- signs are associated with and differ- tematically to understand visual signifi- entiated from each other and how they cation and communication in an African come to stand for something (or for culture. C 12. A SO'O GLEEFULLYPARODIES THE SENSUOUS many things). Signs also stand for some- Notes,page 84 MOVEMENTSOF THE YOUNG DANCERS.

37 Ndala to the pure abstraction of Henry Mud- A issue of Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Taylor. special Triquarterly 1962. and the Ancestors. A Shoe-horn Head. Goody, Jack. Death, Property Study of zengerere's magazine. Northwestern University, the MortuaryCustoms of the LoDagaaof WestAfrica. Stanford: ZAIRE Evanston, 1987. 496 pp., 104 b/w illustrations, Stanford University Press. Robert and William Lamers. 1977. "The Pattern Masken map, bibliography. $13.50 paper. Habenstein, Figuren of Late Nineteenth Century Funerals," in Passing, ed. Bernhard Gardi L'art africain dans les collections publiques de Charles Jackson. Westport: Greenwood Press. Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel, 1986. Text in Poitou-Charentes,edited by Etienne Feau. Pre- Hertz, Robert. 1909. "A Contribution to the Study of the Col- lective of Death" in Death and the German.126 pp., 11 blw photos, 3 maps, bibliogra- face Louis Perrois. Les Presses Representation Right by d'A.R.C., Hand, eds. R. & C. Needham. London: Cohent West. phy. $15. Angoulbme, 1987. 140 pp., 1 color & 97 b/w Huntington, Richard and Peter Metcalf. 1979. Celebrationsof This catalogue illustrates all the pieces that photos, map, bibliography. Text in French. Death: the Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual. Cambridge: were on display at an exhibition at the Mu- Examples from the collections at Angouleme, Cambridge University Press. seum fur Volkerkunde, Basel. The book is Jackson, Charles. 1977. Passing. The Visionof Death in America. Chatellerault, Ile d'Aix, Poitiers, Niort, Greenwood Press. define Westport: highly organized. Introductory maps Rochefort, La Rochelle, Saint-Martin-de Re, MacAloon, John, ed. 1984. Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle. the style areas, which are based on geography and other museums in Poitou-Charentes. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues. and ethnicity: Lower Zaire; Kwango-Kwilu; Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1922. Argonauts of the WesternPacific Kasai; Kasai-Sankuru; Luba, Salampasu, and Fiumi di Pietra:Archivo della PreisoriaSahariana, (1953 edition). New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. A.R. 1948. The Andaman Islanders edi- and Chokwe. Each of these sections Angelo and Alfredo and Gian- Radcliffe-Brown, (1964 Songye; by Castiglioni tion). New York: Free Press. is introduced with a formal detailed descrip- carlo Negro. Edizioni Lativa, 1986. 368 pp., Turner, Victor. 1984. "Liminality and the Performative tion followed by excellent photographs taken 518 b/w & 84 color photos, two maps, bibliog- Genres" in Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle, ed. John MacA- by Peter Horner of representative pieces. raphy, chronology of antiquities. Text in Ita- loon. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Is- sues. There are also field shots the masks lian. lira cloth. showing 50,000 Turner, Victor. 1982a. Celebration. A World of Art and Ritual. and figures in their local habitat - one by D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. L'art rupestre prehistoriquedes massifs centraux Washington, Hans Himmelheber, another a postcard dated Turner, Victor, ed. 1982b. Celebration.Studies in Festivity and sahariens, by Alfred Muzzolini. Cambridge Ritual. 1902, surely pretourist era for Zaire. A Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. in African 16, BAR Van Gennep, Arnold. 1909. The Rites of Passage (1960 transla- Chokwe chair seen in full and in detail is a Monographs Archaeology International, Oxford, 1986. 356 pp., 71 b/w il- tion). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. gem of witty elegance. This would make a lustrations, 6 maps, 6 tables, bibliography, in- serious reference work and forms a stylistic BLAKELY& BLAKELY,notes, 37 dex. Text in French. ?22 paper. from page atlas of the major forms of Zaire. We regret that it is not possible to acknowledge by name all have kind as- Entedeckungen: Neue Kulturen aus Komaland, who in Africa, Europe, and the U.S. provided TEXTEIS sistance to this study. We wish, nonetheless, to express our Republik Ghana. Essay by Karl-Ferdinand Tecnologia e Simbolismo gratitude particularly to Lema Gwete, Shaje 'A Tshiluila, Schaedler. Galerie Walu, Zurich, 1987. 34 pp., Nestor Seeuws, Cornet, Benoit Quersin, de Benjamin Pereira Joseph Guy 75 b/w & 18 color photos, price list, map. Text Plaen, and Kawende Fina Nkindi of the Institut des Musees Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica Tropical, and to Mwabila in German, French, and English. Nationaux du Zaire, Kinshasa Lubumbashi; Museu de Etnologia, Lisbon, 1985. Text in Por- Malela of the Universite Nationale du Zaire, Campus de tuguese. 100 pp., 39 blw photos, 20 drawings, Patterns of Life, Patterns of Art: The Rahr Collec- Lubumbashi; and to Huguette Van Geluwe, Albert Maesen, Pierre de Maret of the Musee de catalogue, bibliography. tion of Native American Art. Essay by Barbara and Royal l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, for their valuable and This is connected with an exhibition of A. Hail, catalogue by Gregory C. Schwartz. support, encouragement, study technical assistance. We also appreciate the generous hospi- textile forms and the processes of their pro- University Press of New England, Hanover, tality and help of many Bahemba throughout our field study. duction at the Museu de Etnologia. The subti- and the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth Bataata,banayu, bamweetu,na banwebosebalitukwasha: wafwako. tle of the book, and College, 1987. 80 pp., 31 color plates, bibliog- We have chosen not to name them individually here, nor to "technology symbolism," their in order to maintain indicates its dual thrust. Its focus raphy. $30 cloth, $17.95 paper. identify villages, confidentiality geographic and in light of a continuingly difficult situation regarding the is worldwide but is linked a Por- of art in this of Africa. generally by The False Faces of the Iroquois, by William N. misappropriation part tuguese connection, so that examples are This paper is based on five years of intensive, live-in re- Fenton. The University of Oklahoma Press, in taken from Guinea Bissau, the Comoros, search in Hemba villages in northern Shaba Region eastern Norman, 1987. xxi + 522 pp., 325 b/w & 24 Zaire during the last thirteen years. The ongoing longitudinal Cape Verde Islands, Timor and some Angola, color illustrations, 2 maps, bibliography. $75 study has included extended participant observation of other Indonesian islands, and Portugal itself. cloth. speech and visual communication in a wide range of Hemba The photos of weavers at work are linked to situations, informed by ethnosemantic and other kinds of that the of Aleut and EskimoArt: Traditionand Innovationin eliciting in interviews in Kihemba and Kiswahili, and drawings expose precise workings the collection and of and the various that the raw South Alaska, by Norma Jean Ray. University supplemented by analysis linguistic equipment brings visual texts. The resulting archive now includes over 60,000 material from harvest to useful readiness. The of Washington Press, Seattle, 1987. Cloth edi- still photographs and hundreds of hours of audiotape, processes of production are also illustrated by tion, 1981. 252 pp., 210 b/w illustrations, bibli- super-8 film, and videotape, closely cross-referenced to and examples of actual tools and machinery in ography, map, index. $24.95 paper. ethnographic fieldnotes, transcriptions, analyses, use. The informant-guided interpretations. revealing illustrations alone may Artefactsfrom the SolomonIslands in the Julius L. 1. African Arts does not typeset tones in African languages. make this book worth considering. Brenchley Collection, by Deborah B. Waite. Unfortunately, not marking the tones in Kihemba is akin to British Museum Publications, London, 1987. leaving out the vowels in English, and there is no Kihemba where a reader can look the tones. Tones are the 114 70 b/w dictionary up pp., photos, appendix, bibliogra- only way some words are distinguished from other words NEW PUBLICATIONS phy, map. ?40 cloth. that have the same consonants and vowels. For example mwisi tone, denotes "smoke," mwisi Art Sub-Saharan The Fred and Rita (descending high tone) of Africa: (high tone, rising tone) denotes "pestle," and mwisi (low Richman Collection, by Christine Mullen SMITH INTRODUCTION, notes, from page 29 tone, high tone) denotes "spirit-invested object." Kreamer. The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1. It is interesting to read in an account of nineteenth-century The Kihemba words in this article are listed below, with the that "for the black was considered the a letter in 1986. 96 pp, 98 b/w & 15 color photos, 5 maps, America bereaved, tones indicated by capital sequence parentheses color most suitable for the trappings of woe. Its sombre effect following the word. (In our usual Kihemba orthography the bibliography. $16.95 paper. was reflected not only in the mourning garb, but in dress of tone is marked over each vowel.) For a phrase, the capital the the the hearse and its the letter for each word is from the others Visual Variations:African Sculpturefrom the Jus- functionaries, shroud, plumes, sequence separated by pall spread over the casket and even the horses used in the a hyphen. The symbols used here are as follows: H=high tin and Elisabeth Lang Collection by Jacqueline funeral cortege" (Habenstein & Lamers 1977:92). tone (usually a French accent aigu); L=low tone (usually no Fry. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's Bibliography diacritic); D=descending tone, high-low (usually a cir- University, Kingston, Ontario, 1987. 64 pp., 63 Bloch, Maurice and J. Parry. 1982. Death and the Regenerationof cumflex); and R=rising tone, low-high (usually a hacek, an order: 'abezha'a makuwa b/w & 3 color Text in French and Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. inverted circumflex). In alphabetical photos. Eng- Brain, Robert and Adam Pollock. 1971.Bangwa Funerary Sculp- (HLH-L-HHH), baandu (HHH), Bahemba (HDH), Balubwilo lish. ture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (HHHH), Bambuli (HHR), baso'o (HHH), Bamusoye (HHLH), Herbert and Doran Ross. 1977. The Arts Ghana. Los batembo buhemba From South New Cole, of (HLH), bazhungu (HDH), biloongo (HHHH), Africa: Writing, Photographs, Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, UCLA. (HDH), buzwege (HHH), chuuli (LLH), bwiyulu (HLH), fumu and Art, edited by David Bunn and Jane Glaze, Anita. 1981. Art and Death in a Senufo Village. (LH), hanza (DH), hemba (DH), 'ibelo (HLH), 'ihuna (HLH),

84 'iliba (HHH), ilongo (HDH), 'inyonga (HDH), 'ivumongunga 9. An individual Muhemba, commenting on a particular ety memberships provide individuals with the opportunity (HHHHH), 'izhungwe (HDH), kihemba (HDH), kimasala mask, may alternate between seeing the "wild," "crazy" to enjoyably and interestingly associate with people from (HHLH), kukesi (HLH), kwanwa hululu (HH-HHH), lagala (etc.) eyebrows and, at another moment, seeing nothing un- outside their usual networks of lineal and affinal kin and pro- (HHH), lubenga (HLH), lusingiti (HHLH), lusuhu (HHH), usual except perhaps a carver's or patron's style preference. vide a counterbalancing set of relationships, information Iwanda Iwa yoogo (HH-L-HHH), magonde ga meba (HHH-L- He or she affirms seeing both, but not at the same time, channels, and sources of solace and support. DH), malilo (HHH), miisi (LLH), misu'u (HLH), mufu (HH), perhaps because the denotations of the "wild" and "crazy" 17. Such matters are not just idle legal speculation. One day muhemba (HDH), mulimba (HDH), musangu (HLH), musuusa eyebrows and an upper face with "nothing unusual" are so during our stay, a child in a nearby village fell hard while (HHHH), muvumo (HHH), muyombwe (HHH), muzogoma very different. This phenomenon may be similar to looking at being chased during bwiyulu joking with his paternal grand- (HLHH), mwanda (DH), mwisi (LH), mwisi gwa so'o (LH-L- figures where the viewer alternates between seeing two father. He died soon after and was sorrowfully mourned, but HH), nyama ni nyama (HH-L-HH), nzuba (HHH), so'o (HH), kinds of images, but usually only one kind at a time: the cup there was no legal payment demanded or paid, as would soko (HH), uangazhabaandu hanza (HLHH-HHH-DH), ubuzha and the faces, the woman and the rabbit, the ducks and the otherwise be done. Similar incidents are cited by our princi- malilo (HRH-HHH), ulumba (LLH), 'unza (DH), usea solo fish, and so forth. A number of so'o masks in museum collec- pal informants involving both leopards and corpses. The (HHH-LL), vuvu (LH), yuuya (HHH). tions have the raised eyebrows. Some other so'o masks do matter is complex; in brief, groups of men struggling to carry 2. This term has also been rendered as soko-mutu or soko not. More information is needed on provenance, authenti- a dead leopard or a human corpse can become extremely mutu. Lenselaer (1983) reports two forms, sokomtu and city, uses, and users' interpretations of these latter masks. emotionally intense, and varying degrees of physical vio- sokomutu, for the Kingwana dialect of Kiswahili spoken in the 10. Blakely (1987) systematically examines ways in which lence occur, though no legal reparations can subsequently be forests of Maniema in Kivu Region (just to the north of the various aspects of settings for face-to-face interaction (and sought. All that will happen is, at most, someone may call Hemba ethnic area, or including the northern part of it, de- the use of space, particularly visual space) are closely in- together a mwanda ("formal discussion") group to hear what pending on how close to 5 degrees south one considers the volved in the semiosis of Hemba gaze and mutual gaze. Cer- happened; the issue is then declared moot and the case dis- ethnic boundary to be). Lenselaer also notes that the "Stan- tain facial-visual communication implies, and is appropriate missed when it is stated that the person died or was injured dard Swahili" word for chimpanzee is sokwe, and the recent for, certain kinds of spaces and settings, while these settings "at the leopard," "at the corpse," or "in grandparent- official dictionary published in Tanzania agrees (Taasisi 1981). can, in their turn, be utilized to provide screening and chan- grandchild joking." Another spelling is sokomuntu, recording a pronunciation neling constraints as well as to serve some of the metacom- 18. Interesting comparisons might be made with anomalous most used in everyday North Shaba Kiswahili speech outside municative clues as to what kind of facial communication the clown figures in other societies. See especially Stoeltje (1981) some government, church, and school situations. The cor- particular facial communication is. The bush-versus-village and Peacock (1978). responding Kihemba word is so'o or soko, depending on opposition is treated in detail in Chapter 3. 19. These issues are explored further in Blakely and Blakely, which Kihemba dialect is being spoken. "So'o"is employed in 11. Douglas (e.g., 1970) has written engagingly on similar is- forthcoming. this article because it is the term commonly used in the areas sues. 20. Stoeltje (1983) uses this term in semiotic research and where the majority of these kinds of masks have been 12. The Angolan Black and White Colobus, Colobusangolensis analysis of festival. found. (PL. Sclater), is called ulumba in Kihemba. It is interesting to Bibliography The mask in the Kihemba language is called, most correctly note that, in Linnaen classification, Colobus monkeys are dis- Bauman, Richard, ed. 1977. VerbalArt as Performance.Rowley, and explicitly, mwisi gwa so'o, a phrase that can be glossed in tinguished by having only four fingers and no opposing MA: Newbury House. English as "spirit-invested object of the chimpanzee- thumb on each hand. This fact resonates with the so'o lore Bauman, Richard and Joel Sherzer, eds. 1974. Explorationsin human." The semantic range of the term mwisi encompasses mentioned earlier that the wild animal "so'o of the bush the Ethnograplhyof Speaking.London: Cambridge University a number of "spirit-invested objects," including wood (forest)" has only four fingers and covets human thumbs. The Press. statues such as the lusingiti, 'abezha 'a makuwa, 'ihuna, and chimpanzee in this area is Pan troglodytes(Blumenbach), most Ben-Amos, Dan and Kenneth Goldstein. 1975. Folklore:Com- lagala, other wood carving on some drums and walking likely of the subspecies schwienfurthi, and does have five fin- municationand Performance.The Hague: Mouton. canes, iron and pottery pieces such as the kimasalaand lwanda gers on each hand. It is also interesting that the Angolan Biebuyck, Daniel P 1978. "Review of Lagrande statuaireHemba lwa yoogo, mud sculpture such as the 'iliba of the Bambuli and Black and White Colobus, when seen from the front, has long du Zaire, by Franfois Neyt," African Arts 12,1. the muyombwe, sacred rocks from ancestors' former settle- white hair around the face as does the so'o "chimpanzee- Biebuyck, Daniel P. 1973. Lega Culture: Art, Initiation, and ments kept in the 'ibelo ("courtyard"), and certain springs, human." Moral Philosophy among a Central African People. Berkeley: pools of water, and other specially designated sites of the 13. Various animal pelts are used, including Guenon mon- University of California Press. lusuhu ("bush") such as caves and large rocks. Many miisi keys (Cercopithicae),genets (Genetta), and the domestic goat. Blakely, Thomas D. 1987. Hemba Visual Communication and (pl.), including each mwisi gwa so'o, are invested with the 14. The so'o mask is carved from one of three kinds of tree: Space. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. "soul-essence" (chuuli) of a particular ancestor and bear his or 'ilongo (Cordeamillenii Borrag.), also used for the trapezoid slit Blakely, Thomas D. 1982. "To Gaze or Not to Gaze: Visual her name. Other miisi, particularly some sites in the bush, drum and the membranophone drum, in roof beams, and in Communication in Eastern Zaire," in Case Studies in the do have a name, but no one seems to know, or particularly upright roof supports; 'izhungzoe(Erythrina abyssinica), also Ethnography of Speaking, eds. Richard Baumann and Joel care, whose ancestral "soul-essence" is involved. used for the small membranophone drum; and a tree called Sherzer. Austin: Southwest Educational Laboratory. 3. The term sign is used here in its most general sense of muzogomain Kihemba, for which we do not yet have an iden- Blakely, Thomas D. and Pamela A.R. Blakely. Forthcoming. "something that stands for something to someone." A sign tification using a Linnaen classification. The barkcloth, "Visual Signs and Verbal Art in Central African Funerary domain is a set of complex of signs related to each other in termed vuvu in Kihemba, is made from various varieties of Observances," in Religion in Africa: The Varietyof Religious some manner. Any individual sign may have many meanings Ficus including Ficus dekdekena Morac. ('ivutmongunga in Experiencein Sub-Saharan Africa, eds. Thomas D. Blakely, and may have many connections to other signs and be part of Kihemba) and Ficus thoningii Morac. (muvumo). The cloth is Spencer J. Palmer, and Dennis Thompson. many sign domains. In this formulation, a symbol is one kind dyed red with red berry (lubenga) juice from the Acacia Conklin, Harold C. 1955. "Hanuno'o Color Categories," of sign. Semiotics is, succinctly said, the study of signs. polycantha subsp. campylacanthaLeg. M. We are grateful to R. SouthwesternJournal of Anthropology11:339-44. 4. This study utilizes, and refines for new purposes, Dechamps of the Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervu- Cornet, Joseph. 1978. A Survey of Zairian Art: The BronsonCol- methods of ethnosemantic analysis that are explored, for ren, for his identification of these and many other plant sub- lection. Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art. example, in Conklin (1955), Metzger and Williams (1963), stances. Cornet, Joseph. 1975. Art from Zaire:One Hundred Masterworks Spradley (1979), Frake (1980), and Werner and Schoepfle 15. The Kihemba word for the local hunter-gatherers ("pyg- from the National Collection. New York: African-American (1987). Our research is also framed by advances in semiotics, mies" in English, Bambote in North Shaba Kiswahili) is Institute. pursuing ancient lines of inquiry that have been rekindled batembo,or "pygmies of the bush," considered by Bahemba to Deely, John. 1985. Introduction to Semiotic. Bloomington: In- and developed in modern times by such scholars as Peirce be a category of humanoid distinct from black African agricul- diana University Press. (1931-1958), Morris (1938), Sebeok (1968-1976), Jakobson turists, baandu. (The third large humanoid category is Douglas, Mary. 1970. Natural Symbols: Explorationsin Cosmol- (1972), Eco (1976), and Deely (1985). We also owe significant bazhungu, which includes everyone else in the world, and it is ogy. New York: Pantheon. debts to articulate pioneers in the ethnography of communi- not strictly a biological category but rather a cultural/political Durst, John and Pierre Dandelot. 1969. A Field Guide to the cation (Hymes 1962, 1964, 1974; Bauman & Sherzer 1974; see one. Black Europeans and Americans, and Zairian adminis- LargerMammals of Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. also Philipsen & Carbaugh 1986) and performance theory trators, can be referred to as bazhungu, for example.) Cos- Eco, Umberto. 1976. A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: In- (e.g., Ben-Amos & Goldstein 1975; Bauman 1977). tumed women members of a semisecret society specializing diana University Press. 5. Since Bantu concordial prefixes are part of the insiders' in certain healing ceremonies also are called batembo in Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenaus. 1975. Ethology: The Biology of Be- usage, we have chosen to include important ones. Mu- is another sense: they are "pygmy-humans" or "pygmies of havior. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. used for one person. Ba- refers to two or more people or a the village," their curative powers heightened by being pos- Ekman, Paul and Wallace V. Friesen. 1969. "The Repertoire of whole group, andKi- is a common prefix for languages in this sessed by ancestral souls of the "pygmies of the bush." Nonverbal Behavior: Categories, Origins, Usage and Cod- area. Hembaland, the area where rural Bahemba live, is 16. In addition to those who join the so'o society for agricul- ing," Semiotica1:49-97. called Buhemba. tural, health, and disaster-prevention reasons, there are also Frake, Charles 0. 1980. Languageand Cultural Descriptions:Es- 6. Proxemics is the study of interpersonal space and the way those who join when they are not facing a crisis. As with says by Charles 0. Frake. Selected and introduced by Anwar it is constructed, utilized, perceived, and interpreted. Pro- most, if not all, Hemba semisecret societies, membership in S. Dil. Stanford: Stanford University Press. xemicists include in their subject matter, for example, the the so'o society provides social ties crosscutting the very Hall, Edward T. 1974. Handbookof ProxemicResearch. Washing- "sensory bubbles" that surround humans and other sentient strong bonds of lineages. Localized segments of exogamous ton, DC: American Anthropological Association/Society beings, interaction zones created by the placement of furni- patrilineages (misu'u) are complemented throughout much of for the Anthropology of Visual Communication (Society ture, how "we shape our buildings and they shape us," and the Buhemba area by strong, exogamous matrilineages for Visual Anthropology). the impact of various kinds of community layout on the qual- (biloongo) in a system of double unilineal descent. Residence Hall, Edward T. 1966. The Hidden Dimension. New York:Holt, ity of the inhabitants' lives. Edward T. Hall, a pioneer in this is predominantly patrilocal/virilocal. (Wives usually live in Rinehart & Winston. kind of research, coined the term proxemics and has pub- their husband's village along with his fathers, brothers, other Hymes, Dell H. 1974. Foundationsin Sociolingiuistics:An Ethno- lished widely on this subject (e.g., Hall 1966, 1974). patrilineal kin, and their families.) In many villages and some graphic Approach.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania 7. Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1975) and elaborated in lectures by Wulf larger political units there is patrilineal succession of each ti- Press. Schiefenhovel at the International Summer Institute for tled headmanship (fumu). In some villages, however, where Hymes, Dell. H. 1964. "Introduction: Toward Ethnographies Semiotic and Structural Studies (ISISSS), Toronto, Canada, there is a tradition of matrilineal inheritance of a titled head- of Communication," in "The Ethnography of Communica- June 1984. manship, not surprisingly there is also some avunculocal and tion," AmericanAnthropologist 66, 6, pt. 2: 1-34. 8. Eibl-Eibesfeldt at ISISSS 1984 in Toronto. matrilocal/uxorilocal residence. In any case, semisecret soci- Hymes, Dell H. 1962. "The Ethnography of Speaking," in An-

85 thropology and Human Behavior,eds. Thomas Gladwin and pers worn bite kpuluma and tied sengi; an injiri outerwrapper photographs of the deceased may also serve as a substitute William C. Sturtevant. Washington, DC: Anthropological worn bite kpuluma and tied sengi; an injiri draped upper body corpse in some instances (Lawal 1977:52). Society of Washington. covering worn over the left shoulder; coral or glass-bead 6. Two rather poor photographs of ako figures seated in state I.M.N.Z. 1973a. Rapport1972. Kinshasa: Institut des Musees kneebands; coral or gold pendant or coral or glass necklet; a show that the area was draped with large handwoven cloths Nationaux du Zaire. large single coral-bead bracelet or coral or glass-bead and that sculptural attendants were placed on either side of at I.M.N.Z. 1973b. Tresorsdel'art traditionnel.Kinshasa: Associa- bracelets; native or English gold rings, one on each ring least one such figure. Bowls and calabashes appear to have tion Internationale des Critiques d'Art/Zaire and Institut finger; and coral-bead or gold drop pierced earrings. held gifts for the deceased. des Musees Nationaux du Zaire. The india or loko iria bo composite consists of: traditional or 7. This great amount of public ritual activity is not in accord Jakobson, Roman. 1972. "Coup d'oeil sur le developpement Western-style undergarments, one or more injiri under- with Cordwell's statement that the "visit of the dead to the de la semiotique." (Rapport a l'ouverture du Premier Con- wrappers worn bite kpuluma and tied sengi; an india or loko living is kept secret until the last minute" and "the gres de l'Association Internationale de Semiotique, Milan, outerwrapper worn bite kpuluma and tied sengi; bare breasts, townspeople are caught by surprise when they see a figure 2 June 1974). Bloomington: Research Center for Language lace blouse, or blouse decorated with beads or sequins; that so closely resembles the one who has died." The prepara- and Semiotic Studies, Indiana University. coral-bead kneebands (sometimes ankle bracelets); one to tions that take place prior to the appearance of the figure may Lenselaer, Alphonse. 1983. DictionaireSwahili-Francais. Paris: three large single coral-bead necklets, multiple coral-bead be somewhat secret, but they cannot be completely so. The Karthala. necklaces of varied lengths, gold necklaces; large single dancing of the women en masse to receive permission to Metzger, Duane and Gerald E. Williams. 1963. "A Formal coral-bead bracelets, coral-bead bracelets, watches; coral- weave ashigbo cloth, the accumulation of large amounts of Ethnographic Analysis of Tenejapa Ladino Weddings," bead heart or circular motif on coral-bed upper armbands; thread for weaving it, the hectic weaving activity over a AmericanAnthlropologist 65:1076-1101. two rings on each hand on index and ring fingers or four rings nine-day period, the accumulation of vast amounts of food Morris, Charles. 1938. "Foundations of the Theory of Signs," on each hand on all fingers; native or English gold; coral-bead and the preparation of fresh foods daily for weavers, carvers, InternationalEncyclopedia of Unified Science1,2:1-59. Chicago: or gold drop pierced earrings; coral-bead, india, or mirror- and all callers, the sounds of carving, the nine-dayako gwigwe University of Chicago Press. decorated hat; coral-bead, brass, or wooden cane in right period in which special songs are sung around the figure set - Neyt, Francois. 1981. Arts traditionnelset histoire au Zaire: Cul- hand, clear or white saucer and folded white handkerchief in up in a special courtyard altogether these do not suggest tures forestiereset royaumesde la savane. Louvain-la-Neuve: left hand, folded and draped india over left forearm; some- total secrecy on the part of the family or ignorance on the part Institut Superieur d'Archeologie et d'Histoire d'Art. times waist beads over india. of the public. The degree of surprise at the resemblance of the Neyt, Frangois. 1977. La grande statuaire hemba du Zaire. 4. Ideally, the mourner's dress draws from the limited heir- figure to the deceased may not be so great either. The time Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut Superieur d'Archeologie et loom items, so the iria bo ensembles are likely to be similar lapse between the death and the celebration may serve to fog d'Histoire d'Art. rather than identical. The latter results when the same cloth is the memory. The fact that a photograph or another person Neyt, Francois and Louis de Stryker. 1975. "Approche des purchased for all the participants. has served as a model does not insure exact likeness. The arts hemba," Arts d'Afrique Noire (Paris), supplement to 5. One woman said: "For those women who don't have it effect is also lessened because figures are usually carved to volume 11. (property), the only way is to borrow from others. They then represent the deceased at the peak of health and at a younger Peacock, James L. 1978. "Symbolic Reversal and Social His- show others they have it (property) by being photographed age. Moreover, one must also consider that a certain degree of tory: Transvestites and Clowns of Java," in The Reversible as opposed to wearing it for the occasion." stylization takes place in even the most realistic works. World,ed. Barbara A. Babcock. Ithaca: Cornell University. Bibliography 8. I was told that the orufonran costume, which is one of the Peirce, Charles S. 1931-1958. Collected Papers. Cambridge, Daly, M. Catherine. 1983. "Dressing for Respect: Com- most significant of Owo's chiefly costumes today, was origi- MA: Harvard University Press. municating Wealth, Status, and Prestige at Kalabari Funer- nally intended for use at funeral ceremonies only, although Philipsen, Gerry and Donal Carbaugh. 1986. "A Bibliography als." Paper presented at the Sixth Triennial Symposium on many chiefs now use it for court rituals. For a discussion of of Fieldwork in the Ethnography of Communication," Lan- African Art, Norman, Oklahoma. orufonransee Poynor 1981 and the Basel Museum fur Volker- guage in Society 15,3:387-98. Daly, M. Catherine, Joanne B. Eicher, and Tonye V. kunde Festschrift in honor of Renee Boser-Sarivexevanis Sebeok, Thomas A. 1976. Contribiutionsto the Doctrineof Signs. Erekosima. 1986. "Male and Female Artistry in Kalabari (forthcoming). 9. Bloomington: Research Center for Language and Semiotic Dress, African Arts 19, 3: 48-51, 83. Abiodun (1976:12) was told that over 200 goats were used in a Studies, Indiana University. Eicher, Joanne B. and Tonye V. Erekosima. Forthcoming. this manner for 1920 ako. Sebeok, Thomas A. ed. 1968-. Seniiotica. Berlin: Mouton de "Kalabari Funeral Rooms as Handicraft and Ephemeral 10. Fagg (1951b:134)suggested the figure was preserved "dans Gruyter. Art." Festschrift for Dr. Rene Boser-Sarivaxevenis, Basel. une sorte de tombeau."Willett (1966:35) said it was buried in a Spradley, James P. 1979. The EthnographicInterview. New York: Horton, Robin. 1970. "IkpatakaDogi: A Kalabari Funeral Rite," normal grave similar to that of the deceased and close to it. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. African Notes 5,3:57-72. Several informants told me in 1973 that it is buried in the dung Stoeltje, Beverly J. 1983. "Festival in America," in Handbookof heap or trash heap. Sr. Philomena of the St. Louis hospital in POYNOR, notes, 83 American Folklore, ed. Richard Dorson. Bloomington: In- from page Owo was invited to view the carving used in an ako ceremony 1. See Willett 1966 and and for diana University Press. Poynor 1976, 1978b, 1987 dis- in Ipele near Owo in 1972 and was told it was to be taken to the cussions of the of the ako Stoeltje, Beverly J. 1981. "Cowboys and Clowns: Rodeo Spe- preservation figure representing bush and destroyed. the mother of Olowo II. in 11. cialists and the Ideology of Work and Play," in "And Other Olashubude, Olagbegi Many Owo Bradbury (n.d. BS:87) suggests that a period of up to three believed the was in 1973 adversaries of NeighlborlyNames": Social Process and Cultural Image in figure destroyed by years was necessary for the ritual trip from Benin to Ife. the Texas Folklore, eds. Richard Bauman and Roger D. Abra- deposed Olowo Olagbegi II. 12. Egharevba (1968:75) also states that if the mother of the hams. Austin: University of Texas Press. 2. Abiodun states that the burial is normally reserved for Edaiken died before his accession to the throne, the body Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili. 1981. Kamusi ya Kiswahili men with titles, but a woman "may be eligible" because she is would be embalmed, and later, at the usual time, it would be Sanifu. Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press and Insti- the mother, daughter, or wife of a chief. A man who does not re-interred with the accustomed honors, giving her the title tute of Kiswahili Research, University of Dar es Salaam. have a title at the time of death but who has been successful of lyoba. Thompson, Robert Farris and Joseph Cornet. 1981. The Four by traditional standards may be installed as a chief posthum- 13. According to Bradbury's field notes (n.d. BS:87), the last of must Moments of the Suii. Washington, DC: National Gallery of ously by the Olowo at the request his children. This time the remains were taken to Ife was for Oba Adolo. "The Art. take place before the burial of the corpse (Abiodun 1976:8-9). journey to Ife and back took about three years. The messen- Thompson, Robert Farris. 1973. "An Aesthetic of the Cool," In at least one instance, according to my Owo sources, ako gers would move only a few miles a day, following the route African Arts 7,1. was performed for a living person. Omakogbe, an illustrious Oramiyan had followed." Werner, Oswald and G. Mark Schoepfle. 1987. Systematic holder of the title Oludasa, had the ritual performed for him- 14. A description of another ipeku is provided by I.0. Delano Fieldzvork,2 vols. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. self before his death, acting as host and figure at the same (1937:115-16)and another by B. Lawal (1977:52-53). time. He was carried from point to point in the procession, 15. A "play" is any festive performance by a musical group, a and at places where dancing took place, he himself got down dance troupe, a masquerade, or any sort of performer. Here, DALY,notes, from page 61 and danced. After his death, his children performed ako for the reference is to musical/dance performance. This article is an extension of a paper presented at the Sixth him a second time. I was told of at least one other instance in 16. Bradbury's notes say that the figure was carried on a per- Triennial Symposium on African Art, Norman, Oklahoma, which a person performed the funeral ritual before her death, son's head (n.d. BS: 87, 418). Some may actually be rolled 1983. in this case a childless woman who wanted to insure that she along the street on wooden wheels, according to Chief Ihama 1. Traditional Kalabari female appearance is represented by was sent off in a proper manner into the world of the dead. (Paula Ben-Amos, personal communication, 1976). The fig- the bite sara stage of iria, or cloth tied to the ankle. It is mainly Her funeral was, of course, a lesser type. ure in the Bradbury photograph (Willett 1966:pl. 4a) is shown characterized by an outer wrapper ensemble of named cloth 3. The number seventeen seems to be of ritual significance in with its feet on the street, its elbows and hands supported by types, consisting of a wrapper worn "up" over a longer, Owo. Igogo, the most important annual festival in the king- a man on either side. ankle-length, "down" wrapper. Both are tied ebre style, the dom, a combination of New Yam festival and purification cer- 17. Olowo Elewuokun was considered to be the great common method for ordinary occasions. emony merged with a memorial to the goddess Oronshen, "Benin-izer" of Owo. It was during his reign that two Benin- 2. A Kalabari woman's undergarments are the foundation of also takes place over a seventeen-day period. The burial of type chieftaincy costumes were introduced into the court. He her appearance. If she chooses the traditional underskirt or the Olowo takes seventeen ritual days. These and other sig- also changed the names of several titles to align them more private cloth (similar to Western briefs), it is usually of akwete nificant ceremonies all begin on the day of the five-day mar- closely with those of the Benin court. For specifics, see my (a handwoven cloth from the Igbo-speaking village of Ak- ket. article on Edo influence on the art of Owo (Poynor 1976). wete in southern Nigeria), acraa (handwoven cloth similar to 4. Abiodun's sources (1976:9) implied that a many as ten Bibliography Ghanaian kente), or "some really good material." On ritual cows and an appropriate number of goats to "wash the Abiodun, R. 1976. "A Reconsideration of the Function of Ako, occasions such as a funeral, an iria bo may even wear a softer cow's" feet are used. Second Burial Effigy, in Owo" Africa 46, 1:4-20. and more costly type of raffia cloth (bite okuru). If European 5. Nowadays it is said the carver is shown a photograph of Adesola. 1908. "Burial Customs in the Yoruba Country," Ni- undergarments are worn, these usually consist of briefs and a the deceased in order to insure a more realistic likeness. gerian Chronicle4, 11, 18 Dec. brassiere. Abiodun's informants (1976:10)suggested that before the ad- Ashara, A. 1951. The History of Owo. Owo:Moonlight Press. 3. The iiinjiriiria bo composite consists of: traditional or vent of photography, children who resembled the deceased Bradbury, R. 1973. Benin Studies. London: Oxford University Western-style undergarments; one or more injiri underwrap- parent would be asked to model for the effigy. It seems that Press for the International African Institute.